Taking their name from the "Eloi", the futuristic race of people in H.G. Wells' The Time Machine, ELOY was initially formed in 1969 in Germany. Inspired by THE SHADOWS and THE BEATLES, they became one of the major bands in the progressive rock scene highly influenced by the space rock of PINK FLOYD. They started off in Germany as a hard rock band with a political bent, but soon drifted into a spacier progressive rock sound. They have had a number of turnovers, with a major split in the 1980s that resulted in a move into more of a mainstream direction. Based mainly on founder Frank BORNEMANN's guitar solos, their music evolved to include more synthesizers and choirs.

They produced many albums between 1971 and 1998 with different line-ups. Their best period is the mid to late-70's with the trippier space-rock of "Inside" and "Floating" (with Manfred WIECZORKE later of JANE). "Dawn" is actually one of the better of the symphonic-era ELOY albums, perhaps even the best. "Ocean" is a concept album about Atlantis, and one of the pillar albums of the German symphonic scene, and certainly worth checking out. They followed up with "Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes", the year later to even greater success. During 1993-1994, ELOY released three best of collections and it wasn't until 1994 with the release of "The Tides Return Forever", that they recorded and toured again is released and the band reappeared live on stage for several successful shows in Germany. Their last album "Ocean 2", released in 1998, was a surprising come back of a progressive rock band, which stopped recently their stage-appearances.

Source : http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=95